I FURTHER observe: (3.) The credibility
of these books in which Masonry is revealed is evident from the
following considerations:

(a.) The murder of Morgan by Freemasons was
an emphatic acknowledgment that he had revealed their secrets.
For, if he had not, he had not incurred the penalty of Masonic
obligations. They murdered him because he had truly revealed
their secrets; and they could have had no motive whatever for
murdering him if he had not done so.

(b.) The credibility of these books is
further sustained by the fact, that adhering Masons did then, and
have always, justified the murder of Morgan as that which their
oaths obliged them to do. They have said that he deserved it; and
that he had taken upon him the obligation consenting to suffer the
penalty if he violated it. In the two small volumes published by
Elder Stearns, letters will be found from the most respectable and
reliable Christian men, that fully sustain this statement, that
the adhering fraternity, with very few exceptions, at that time,
justified the murder of Morgan. In thus justifying that murder
they, of course, admit that he violated his oath, and had truly
published Freemasonry. I would quote these testimonies; but, as
they can be read from the books themselves. I will not cumber your
pages by copying them.

(c.) The credibility of these books is
sustained by the express testimony of the seceding Mason, who,
after hearing them read, ordered them printed.

(d.) The testimony of these books is
further sustained by the report of a committee appointed at that
time by the legislature of Rhode Island. That body appointed a
committee, and gave them authority to arrest and examine
Freemasons to ascertain whether the oaths published in these books
were truly the oaths of Freemasons. This committee succeeded in
bringing before them men that had taken the first ten degrees of
Freemasonry. They put them on oath under the pains and penalties
of perjury. In these circumstances they did not dare to deny it;
but owned to the committee that they were the oaths taken by
Freemasons. I said that they did not dare to deny it, because
they were well aware that of seceding Masons hundreds and
thousands might be obtained who would confront them and prove them
guilty of perjury if they denied it.

I should have said that these Masons that
were arrested, and that testified before this committee, were not
seceding, but adhering, Masons. So that here for the first ten
degrees of Freemasonry we have the admission on oath of adhering
Masons that these books truly published their oaths. These facts
may be learned from the records of the legislature, or from John
Quincy Adams's letters to Mr. Livingston, who was at the head of
the Masonic institution in the State of New York at that
time.

(e.) The credibility of these books is
further sustained by the implied admission of the two thousand
lodges that suspended because their secrets were revealed, and
because they were ashamed any longer to be known as sustaining the
institution. These lodges, as I have before said, contained some
forty-five thousand members. Now it should be particularly noted
that, of all the seceding Masons in the United States, not one of
them has ever, to my knowledge, denied that these books had truly
revealed the secrets of Masonry; while it is true that the five
thousand who did not secede would never acknowledge that these
books were credible. A worthy minister, who used to reside in
this place, who has himself taken a great many degrees in Masonry,
wrote to one of our citizens, a few months since, denouncing the
institution in strong terms. He is a man who has traveled much
among Freemasons for many years in various parts of the United
States; and in that letter he affirmed that he had never known but
one adhering Mason who would not deny, to those who did not know
better, that those books had truly revealed Masonry. This is what
might be expected.

(f.) The credibility of these books is
further sustained by the published individual testimony of a great
many men of unquestionable veracity--men standing high in the
Christian ministry, and in church and state.

The books to which I have alluded contain
very much of this kind of testimony.

But to all this testimony adhering Masons
have objected. First, that the movement against Freemasonry was a
political one. Answer: I have already said that by its having
seized upon all the civil offices, and totally obstructing the
course of justice, it was forced into politics by Masons
themselves.

It was found that there was no other way
than for the people to rise up and take the offices out of their
hands by political action. At first there was no thought on the
part of any one, so far as I could learn, that it would ever
become a political question. But it was soon found that there was
no other alternative.

But, again, it is said, Why should we
receive the testimony of those men who have passed away, rather
than the testimony of the living, thousands of whom now affirm
that those books did not truly reveal Masonry?

To this I answer that these men are every
one of them sworn to lie about it. If they adhere to their oaths,
they are sworn to deny that these books truly reveal Masonry; and,
therefore, their testimony is not to be received at all. But
thousands of the seceding masons still survive, and universally
adhere to their testimony that those books did truly reveal
Masonry.

But it is said that Masonry is reformed,
and is not now what it was at that time.

Answer: First, this, then, is a virtual
acknowledgment that at that time it was truly revealed. This is
contradicting themselves. As long as they can, they deny that
these books truly reveal it. But when forty-five thousand
witnesses are summoned, among whom are a great many of the most
valuable citizens of the United States, insomuch that they can
have no face to deny that Masonry was revealed, as it then was,
then we are told, "Oh! it is reformed; it is not what it
was."

But, again if they have reformed, the
burden of proof is upon them. It is for them to show whether they
have reformed out of it those things that rendered it so odious in
a moral point of view, and so dangerous in a political point of
view, as those books revealed it to be.

Again, their authorities do not pretend
that it has been reformed. Their most recently published books
take exactly the opposite ground, claiming that it is one and
identical with what it was in the beginning; and that it neither
has been nor can be changed in any of its essential principles or
usages. They expressly require of their candidates to conform to
all the ancient principles and usages of the institution.

I might sustain these assertions by copious
extracts from their works, if it would not too much encumber this
article. Let those who wish to know get their books, and read
them for themselves. If anything can be established by human
testimony, it is forever beyond a doubt that Mr. Morgan, EIder
Bernard, Mr. Richardson, and others that published Masonry, have
published it substantially as it was and is.

I have already said that their secrets are
never written by themselves. All their secrets are communicated
orally. They take a great deal of pains to secure entire
uniformity in regard to every word and sentiment which they teach.
Each state has its lecturers, who go from lodge to lodge to teach
and secure a uniformity as nearly perfect as possible.

And then there is a United States lecturer,
who goes from state to state, to see that the grand lodges are all
consistent with each other.

In spite, however, of all this painstaking
and expense, slight verbal differences will exist among them. But
these differences are only in words. The ideas are retained; but
in some few instances they are expressed by different words, as we
shall see when we come to examine the books themselves.

The fact is, that the great mass of young
men who have joined them have been grossly deceived. Having been
imposed upon, as I was imposed upon, they have been made to
believe that the institution is a very different matter from what
it really is.

We shall see hereafter how this imposition
could be practiced upon them, and how it has been practiced upon
them.

I would not be understood as denouncing the
individuals composing the whole fraternity; for I am perfect]y
well persuaded that the great mass of young men who belong to the
institution are laboring under a great delusion in regard to its
real object, character, and tendency.

Lastly, it is inquired why we go to the
enemies of Freemasonry for a knowledge of what it is, instead of
getting our information from its friends. "Why not," they say,
"allow us to speak for ourselves? We know what it is, and we can
inform the public what it is; and why should you go to our
enemies?" To this I answer, that we cannot learn what the secrets
of Masonry are from its friends and adherents, because they are
under oath to give us no information about them. We are,
therefore, under the necessity, if we would know what it is, of
taking the testimony of those who know what it is by having taken
its degrees, and have, from conscientious motives, renounced the
institution. If they are its enemies, it is only in the sense
that they regard the institution as not only unworthy of
patronage, but as so wicked in a moral point of view, and so
dangerous in a political point of view, that they feel constrained
to reveal its secrets, and publicly to renounce it. These are the
only men from whom we can possibly get any information of what
Freemasonry is. It is absurd for adhering Masons to ask us why we
do not allow them to teach us what it is; for we know, and they
know, that they can do no such thing without violating their oaths
and these oaths, they still acknowledge to be binding upon them.

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